AMD is also the king of Multicore. Try finding a sub-$200 six or even 8 core processor from Intel. For those of use who care about multiprocessing and parallelism over single core performance, AMD is pretty much the only game in town.
1) Why? What is so damn wrong with Nintendo Hardware? Just because they rarely put out the most powerful console on the market doesn't mean they should just pack it up. Besides, if you want power get a PC, consoles shouldn't be your game. If it is just because you want to play Nintendo games but not buy a Nintendo console, what can I tell you, video gaming is not a cheap hobby.
2) Kinect is terrible. It is horribly imprecise and it requires bright, even lighting and a large room free from obstructions. If you live in an apartment or a small house just forget it. The Original Wiimote was bad, but the Motion+ blows the Kinect and the Playstation Move out of the water. Will the Kinect 2 be better, probably, but the Kinect is a joke and I own one.
3) The 3DS has almost doubled the original DS's first year sales, and is killing the Vita, out pacing it 7:1 in Japan. I think that qualifies as a success.
You might just as well be saying that Apple should pack it in and start make Android smart phones and Windows PCs because everyone uses Windows and Android.
The way I see it is that the Wii had many problems converging to create a positive feedback loop of crap. There were very few hard-core games released around launch, and they were terrible and bombed. Meanwhile, people started buying it because of Wii Sports which got it into peoples homes who would never buy a game console. So party games and casual games start flying off the shelves. It becomes known as the console that only little kids and Grandma play. Now "Real gamers" don't want to touch it and between its reputation and technical limitations, developers won't touch it unless to make party games.
When a developer actually makes a hardcore game for the system, the little kids and grandma crowd aren't going to buy them. Hardcore gamers aren't looking through Wii games for anything but the occasional Mario and Zelda games, so they get buried in a sea of crap and shovelware. Even though the Wii had plenty of Hardcore gems (The Conduit, Mad World, GoldenEye 007, Red Steel 2, etc.) nobody buys them either for lack of mind share, or because the Wii just seems tainted as some "noob-toy" that just coming near will mar your "gamer-cred".
I can only hope that the Wii U will not end up as the dumping ground for the industries shovelware and will in fact receive the love it deserves. However, just from the comments I see from here and elsewhere, I don't see that happening. Unfortunately gaming isn't about the games, it is about how much fun you can theoretically have because your console has "Blast Processing" and that other console doesn't.
Well, of course it won't support the Homebrew channel. Nintendo poured more resources than it should have into making sure it wasn't supported on the Wii (and failed) when they could have poured resources into making channels that replicate some of the more common used features of the Homebrew community (media streaming, DVD playing, RSS, Twitter, etc) without the whole enabling piracy angle.
GameCube controller support is totally unnecessary. Any Wii game that supports the GC controller also supports the classic controller, which works just as well. With any luck, the Wii U pad and the Pro controller will be backwards compatible with Classic Controller-enabled games.
If it was up to me, I would like to see Window Maker modernized. I would have support for real transparency and themed widgets that don't look blocky and thirty years-old. I would also make a push for new dockapps.
Hell yeah. I taught myself BASIC when I was about 8. Just from screwing around with making simple games I unknowingly learned basic algebra (variables, some order of operations stuff, exponents) translating word problems into code, algorithm design, boolean logic, and general problem solving. When I started playing with QBASIC's graphics library, I ended up learning some geometry since the only primitives were pixels, lines, and circles. I may not have used BASIC in over a decade, but I still use what it taught me.
10 PRINT "Hello, What's your name?" 20 INPUT Name$ 30 PRINT "Hello, "; Name$ 40 END
Here is a simple BASIC program. It asks for a name, the user types it in, and it prints it back out again. However, just teaching what this little program does could have been worth months of lessons and questions in a Pre-algebra class. As I recall from my experience in school, the two biggest hurdles for the kids in the classes I had to sit through were the concept of variables and the order of operations. While you can memorize PEMDAS (or BEDMAS), no amount of analogizing what a variable is or isn't can make some kids comprehend the idea. However, experiencing that Name$ contains the kid's name might just help the idea click in their head.
Programming can also be a more creative way to teach problem solving than dry word problems. While word problems have their place (teaching how to convert written information to solvable equations), giving a set of requirements and tools to implement them allows free-form design.
As for teachers with programming experience, that is a problem for the Schools HR department. Worse comes to worse, it shouldn't be hard for a math teacher to pick up some elementary Python or LOGO, or something. It isn't like they need to be able to write a compiler in C or anything.
I taught myself programming in BASIC when I was 8. For me, it was writing neat little games and such. Mostly input to variable, check variable, print something. Later I started dabbling in QBASIC's graphics functions. Sure, I haven't used BASIC in over a decade. However, what I didn't know was that I more-or-less taught myself the basics of logic, algebra, and even some simple geometry. When I got to pre-algebra and algebra in middle school, the biggest hurdle for most students was the idea that letters were numbers. Many kids just couldn't comprehend the idea of a variable much less how to manipulate them. There I was not understanding how anyone couldn't grasp that.
Teaching kids programming shouldn't be about vocational training. It should be an extension of the math program that can ease children into the mindset of dealing with abstract problem solving. Up until middle school (in my case anyway) everything was teaching basic operations (which was either rote memorization of tables or simple algorithms), mixed with some generic life skills like money, reading an analog clock, and units of volume, length, weight, etc. There was no abstract thinking involved or problem solving, just simple calculations. So when students are thrown into actually solving problems, most struggle to adapt to the mind set necessary to do that. Hell, I know many adults that fail at general problem solving. Something like programming can be a good (and fun) way to introduce children to this fundamental kind of problem solving.
My Nintendo 3DS has a neat little toy app called Petit Computer. It is basically a BASIC interpreter that allows you to write programs and games, and trade them with friends. I also hear tell of a Pokemon typing game that is coming out that features a wireless keyboard for the DS. Even assuming that a patch is made to allow the keyboard to function in Petit Computer, I don't see the point to actually programming on a 3DS. I sure as hell would never want to use a device like that to do serious work.
I feel the same way about programming on a iPad. Sure it might be neat for a while to play around with some simple things in a python interpreter or something similar. Hell, I toyed around with various interpreters for my old Palm handhelds (with and without a keyboard). However, there is no way it would ever replace my desktop (or even my laptop) to programming anything but the most trivial of apps. Between the tiny screen, lack of windowing interface, and lack of an accessible file system, how could I ever get any work done? I need to be able to download and install 3rd party APIs, libraries, and files; use said libraries in an editor (or at least an IDE) and be able to seamlessly go between my editor (with multiple documents open), a web browser (usually with multiple tabs) and the library documentation. Good luck doing this gracefully on an iPad.
Unless the next iPad runs Mountain Lion, the iPad won't be a serious development machine anytime soon.
Why not just run Linux 24/7 and virtualize Windows in Virtualbox or VMWare. The beauty is once everything is installed and configured, take a snapshot (or whatever VMWare calls them) and if it goes kaput, restore the snapshot. No fuss, no muss.
Best part is if you want to experiment, just clone the snapshot, play around with it and keep or delete it when you are done.
Assassin's Creed 4, now with real assassins! Buy our great new game and experience the the magic and wonder of the world we created or we will kill you. Our trained assassins will be seeing you soon!
I always figured that games were made intentionally obtuse because they were made for the Japanese audience and only later given to Americans as an afterthought. I also figured that the reason (Japanese published) games started getting simpler was because they realized the value of and started catering to western audiences.
It's crazy, working 12 or 16 hours a day, and that five days or maybe six a week? If you have no social life, earn $10k+ a month
There's no way I'd work more than - say - 45 hours a week for that salary. If you want to own my nights and weekends, I'll have to introduce you to my friend, Mr. Time-And-A-Half. I don't mean that I'd never work long hours under urgent conditions. I have, and I will again. But any company who seriously wanted me to pull 60 hours a week on a regular basis would quickly discover that I put a pretty high dollar value on my free time.
I would work 12-16 Hrs/day for 10k+/month. 120k+/year is some good spending money. With most of my time in the office, I am not really buying much, so even better!
I would have figured it was because there was no such thing as an electric fan, air conditioner, common forms of odor control outside of expensive incense and oils, or soundproofing. Soundproofing is kind of a prerequisite for home privacy. If people can hear you doing something they might just as well see you doing it, especially if one of the many town gossips hear you. It also helps if most homes had multiple bedrooms, much less multiple rooms, which from what I read most colonial homes did not. Actually, from what I have read you were lucky if you had a separate bed. Good luck with privacy when everyone in the family shares the same bed!
1) Accusing me of being an XBox fanboy (which apparently invalidates your opinions). They also often said that hackers must also be Microsoft fanboys, as Microsoft never gets hacked and they're "just as evil" as Sony. 2) Accusing me of being a troll ("obvious troll is obvious" was said at least once without a trace of irony)
As much as I would like to think otherwise, in my experience 90% of people who comment on video game forums are fanboys that will vehemently defend their platform of choice or are fanboy trolls baiting said fanboys. Make a comment contrary to the opinion that Sony is a benevolent gaming god that only brings joy and smiles to the world and you will be labeled an Xbox fanboy and told to GTFO. Attack Nintendo and you're a Sony fanboy. Attack Microsoft and you are an Apple fanboy, etc.
Answering the question of "Why?" with "because Sony is evil and deserves it" it's not hard to understand why you were labeled a troll and a fanboy.
3) Saying that the only people being hurt are Sony's customers, not Sony themselves (somehow not realizing the implications - if customers keep getting attacked, they aren't likely to continue being customers)
Here is the thing, who do you think is being hurt more, some poor schmuck who wanted a few games and a blu-ray player having their information posted online or some large multinational multi-billion dollar conglomerate that could lose their entire video game division tomorrow and still be raking in billions from other avenues of sale.
4) Saying that nobody ever used Linux on the PS3 and that Sony was 100% justified in removing it
Yes it was a shitty thing to do, but if you really think that that was a major draw for the system then you are sadly mistaken. If you really bought a PS3 to run Linux on, there are many better and probably cheaper devices that can run Linux. Many of them come with Linux preinstalled and some of them can even connect to an HDTV as well. However, if it is that much of a concern there are other options available such as hacking the device or not upgrading the firmware. There are consequences to those routes, but it can be done.
And in one memorable case, bringing up Hitler, trying to minimize Sony's "evilness" by comparing it to that.
Again, Welcome to the Internet!
So no, none of "the general public" consider anything Sony does to be evil. They could probably kill a few people and people would care more about whether they can play their Final Fantasy XIII-2 DLC or not.
First, the Kotaku forums are not indicative of "the general public," they are indicative of the endless wars between fanboys and random gaming hobbyists who like wasting time on Kotaku. However, when one has invested hundreds if not thousands of dollars in games and hardware, especially nontransferable goods like DLC and downloaded games, not many people can justify throwing it all away because a company is evil. Maybe this will keep some people from buying the next console but if you think that people are just going to abandon their investments en mass on principle then you are not living in reality.
No weapon kills people, people do. That's why no one should deny me my constitutional right to buy a tank and build a nuke.
Yes, Why can't someone protect my right to bear doomsday weapons! It is getting so hard for us mad scientists to get our hands on Doomsday weapons, much less the mad grad students. That is why I don't go anywhere without my mutated anthrax, for "duck hunting."
The problem is that is isn't a lame idea. The general problems came from mismanagement and that the idea didn't scale well, essentially becoming too popular for its own good. The idea of having a (relatively) small community posting links to news and random awesome stuff they find on the internet and having the community vote up what they like is a great idea. Once the community reaches a certain size, however things start to gravitate toward lowest common denominator crap (lolrandom bullshit and the latest ow-my-balls videos) and sponsored content / astroturfing. Back in the day where Digg was only hundreds of users instead of hundreds of thousands and Kevin and Alex highlighted the best stuff on Diggnation, it was an awesome service. I grew tired of it after a while and haven't been on in years.
Personally, I feel the same way about Facebook. When it was only for college students, it was a great way to talk to your friends. Then after it went public (open to everyone, not IPO) it just become overrun with herp-derp and became nothing but a web-based popularity contest. Between the horribly low signal-to-noise ratio and the flagrant privacy issues, I couldn't leave fast enough.
But does it make sense? Yes, they oppose the education of women. Which would be smarter for them to do, poison the schools and not only keep quiet but flat out deny it or to poison the schools and say "We oppose the education of women and not only did we poison this school, but we will continue at random until every last school closes?"
My point was that terrorists are not lone nuts wreaking havoc, but are whackjobs wreaking havoc to further their agenda. If they did it and are keeping quiet then you are giving them too much credit because that is really stupid.
To play devil's advocate, what reason do they have to deny it if they did it? The Taliban is a fundamentalist party that supports acts of terrorism. The difference between a terrorist and psychopath is that a terrorist has a message. If a terrorist group were to lie about culpability it would probably be to take credit for acts they didn't commit. In fact, for pretty much any disaster or accident, there is almost always a group willing to take responsibility whether they did it or not.
The Taliban is a malevolent organization, but they are not comic book villains plotting nefarious acts for evil's sake.
He never promised universal healthcare--he promised universal insurance with an individual mandate, which is exactly what we got.
The public option was always "on the table" as part of his campaign platform.
The wars are over, dumbass--nearly all the troops are home. Read a newspaper sometime.
We are out of Afganistan, The Philippines, Pakistan, and Yehmen? We're no longer using the Navy to fight Somali Pirates? Wow, I wish someone would have told me, but the media doesn't covers wars. [/sarcasm]
The "War on Terror" is never over.
The economy has recovered substantially from the nose dive it was in when he took over. Remember >10% unemployment? Shitty economy is still shitty.
Now, if you look at the spirit of my original post, I was saying that his poll numbers aren't because of closet racism but probably because he ran as a Democrat and turned out to be only moderately left of Bush and just slightly more effective. I keep hearing about this socialist in office and wonder who the hell they're talking about. A socialist president would probably be a refreshing change after the last 12 years.
Maybe it is because he promised universal healthcare, closing Gitmo, ending the wars, improving the economy, and et cetera and instead passed a law requiring everyone to buy-in-to expensive private insurance, Gitmo is still open, the troops are still not home, the economy is still shit, and the bankers who got us into it are not only free, but given free government money!
Now, there is plenty of blame to give to both parties as there used to be a thing called bipartisan co-oporation. There was a point in time when both parties tried to do what they felt was in the best interest of the country, instead of intentionally wrecking the country so they can get the next election. Racism is still alive and kicking, but don't blame Obama's low popularity purely on racism.
Slashdot Mirror
AMD is also the king of Multicore. Try finding a sub-$200 six or even 8 core processor from Intel. For those of use who care about multiprocessing and parallelism over single core performance, AMD is pretty much the only game in town.
1) Why? What is so damn wrong with Nintendo Hardware? Just because they rarely put out the most powerful console on the market doesn't mean they should just pack it up. Besides, if you want power get a PC, consoles shouldn't be your game. If it is just because you want to play Nintendo games but not buy a Nintendo console, what can I tell you, video gaming is not a cheap hobby.
2) Kinect is terrible. It is horribly imprecise and it requires bright, even lighting and a large room free from obstructions. If you live in an apartment or a small house just forget it. The Original Wiimote was bad, but the Motion+ blows the Kinect and the Playstation Move out of the water. Will the Kinect 2 be better, probably, but the Kinect is a joke and I own one.
3) The 3DS has almost doubled the original DS's first year sales, and is killing the Vita, out pacing it 7:1 in Japan. I think that qualifies as a success.
You might just as well be saying that Apple should pack it in and start make Android smart phones and Windows PCs because everyone uses Windows and Android.
The way I see it is that the Wii had many problems converging to create a positive feedback loop of crap. There were very few hard-core games released around launch, and they were terrible and bombed. Meanwhile, people started buying it because of Wii Sports which got it into peoples homes who would never buy a game console. So party games and casual games start flying off the shelves. It becomes known as the console that only little kids and Grandma play. Now "Real gamers" don't want to touch it and between its reputation and technical limitations, developers won't touch it unless to make party games.
When a developer actually makes a hardcore game for the system, the little kids and grandma crowd aren't going to buy them. Hardcore gamers aren't looking through Wii games for anything but the occasional Mario and Zelda games, so they get buried in a sea of crap and shovelware. Even though the Wii had plenty of Hardcore gems (The Conduit, Mad World, GoldenEye 007, Red Steel 2, etc.) nobody buys them either for lack of mind share, or because the Wii just seems tainted as some "noob-toy" that just coming near will mar your "gamer-cred".
I can only hope that the Wii U will not end up as the dumping ground for the industries shovelware and will in fact receive the love it deserves. However, just from the comments I see from here and elsewhere, I don't see that happening. Unfortunately gaming isn't about the games, it is about how much fun you can theoretically have because your console has "Blast Processing" and that other console doesn't.
Well, of course it won't support the Homebrew channel. Nintendo poured more resources than it should have into making sure it wasn't supported on the Wii (and failed) when they could have poured resources into making channels that replicate some of the more common used features of the Homebrew community (media streaming, DVD playing, RSS, Twitter, etc) without the whole enabling piracy angle.
GameCube controller support is totally unnecessary. Any Wii game that supports the GC controller also supports the classic controller, which works just as well. With any luck, the Wii U pad and the Pro controller will be backwards compatible with Classic Controller-enabled games.
If it was up to me, I would like to see Window Maker modernized. I would have support for real transparency and themed widgets that don't look blocky and thirty years-old. I would also make a push for new dockapps.
Hell yeah. I taught myself BASIC when I was about 8. Just from screwing around with making simple games I unknowingly learned basic algebra (variables, some order of operations stuff, exponents) translating word problems into code, algorithm design, boolean logic, and general problem solving. When I started playing with QBASIC's graphics library, I ended up learning some geometry since the only primitives were pixels, lines, and circles. I may not have used BASIC in over a decade, but I still use what it taught me.
Just some arithmetic, my ass!
10 PRINT "Hello, What's your name?"
20 INPUT Name$
30 PRINT "Hello, "; Name$
40 END
Here is a simple BASIC program. It asks for a name, the user types it in, and it prints it back out again. However, just teaching what this little program does could have been worth months of lessons and questions in a Pre-algebra class. As I recall from my experience in school, the two biggest hurdles for the kids in the classes I had to sit through were the concept of variables and the order of operations. While you can memorize PEMDAS (or BEDMAS), no amount of analogizing what a variable is or isn't can make some kids comprehend the idea. However, experiencing that Name$ contains the kid's name might just help the idea click in their head.
Programming can also be a more creative way to teach problem solving than dry word problems. While word problems have their place (teaching how to convert written information to solvable equations), giving a set of requirements and tools to implement them allows free-form design.
As for teachers with programming experience, that is a problem for the Schools HR department. Worse comes to worse, it shouldn't be hard for a math teacher to pick up some elementary Python or LOGO, or something. It isn't like they need to be able to write a compiler in C or anything.
I taught myself programming in BASIC when I was 8. For me, it was writing neat little games and such. Mostly input to variable, check variable, print something. Later I started dabbling in QBASIC's graphics functions. Sure, I haven't used BASIC in over a decade. However, what I didn't know was that I more-or-less taught myself the basics of logic, algebra, and even some simple geometry. When I got to pre-algebra and algebra in middle school, the biggest hurdle for most students was the idea that letters were numbers. Many kids just couldn't comprehend the idea of a variable much less how to manipulate them. There I was not understanding how anyone couldn't grasp that.
Teaching kids programming shouldn't be about vocational training. It should be an extension of the math program that can ease children into the mindset of dealing with abstract problem solving. Up until middle school (in my case anyway) everything was teaching basic operations (which was either rote memorization of tables or simple algorithms), mixed with some generic life skills like money, reading an analog clock, and units of volume, length, weight, etc. There was no abstract thinking involved or problem solving, just simple calculations. So when students are thrown into actually solving problems, most struggle to adapt to the mind set necessary to do that. Hell, I know many adults that fail at general problem solving. Something like programming can be a good (and fun) way to introduce children to this fundamental kind of problem solving.
My Nintendo 3DS has a neat little toy app called Petit Computer. It is basically a BASIC interpreter that allows you to write programs and games, and trade them with friends. I also hear tell of a Pokemon typing game that is coming out that features a wireless keyboard for the DS. Even assuming that a patch is made to allow the keyboard to function in Petit Computer, I don't see the point to actually programming on a 3DS. I sure as hell would never want to use a device like that to do serious work.
I feel the same way about programming on a iPad. Sure it might be neat for a while to play around with some simple things in a python interpreter or something similar. Hell, I toyed around with various interpreters for my old Palm handhelds (with and without a keyboard). However, there is no way it would ever replace my desktop (or even my laptop) to programming anything but the most trivial of apps. Between the tiny screen, lack of windowing interface, and lack of an accessible file system, how could I ever get any work done? I need to be able to download and install 3rd party APIs, libraries, and files; use said libraries in an editor (or at least an IDE) and be able to seamlessly go between my editor (with multiple documents open), a web browser (usually with multiple tabs) and the library documentation. Good luck doing this gracefully on an iPad.
Unless the next iPad runs Mountain Lion, the iPad won't be a serious development machine anytime soon.
Well, connect computers and withstand a nuclear war. Remember, it was a DoD project before it was a way to download porn and bitch about things.
Why not just run Linux 24/7 and virtualize Windows in Virtualbox or VMWare. The beauty is once everything is installed and configured, take a snapshot (or whatever VMWare calls them) and if it goes kaput, restore the snapshot. No fuss, no muss.
Best part is if you want to experiment, just clone the snapshot, play around with it and keep or delete it when you are done.
What was wrong with MS-DOS 6.22?
Assassin's Creed 4, now with real assassins! Buy our great new game and experience the the magic and wonder of the world we created or we will kill you. Our trained assassins will be seeing you soon!
I always figured that games were made intentionally obtuse because they were made for the Japanese audience and only later given to Americans as an afterthought. I also figured that the reason (Japanese published) games started getting simpler was because they realized the value of and started catering to western audiences.
It's crazy, working 12 or 16 hours a day, and that five days or maybe six a week? If you have no social life, earn $10k+ a month
There's no way I'd work more than - say - 45 hours a week for that salary. If you want to own my nights and weekends, I'll have to introduce you to my friend, Mr. Time-And-A-Half. I don't mean that I'd never work long hours under urgent conditions. I have, and I will again. But any company who seriously wanted me to pull 60 hours a week on a regular basis would quickly discover that I put a pretty high dollar value on my free time.
I would work 12-16 Hrs/day for 10k+/month. 120k+/year is some good spending money. With most of my time in the office, I am not really buying much, so even better!
I would have figured it was because there was no such thing as an electric fan, air conditioner, common forms of odor control outside of expensive incense and oils, or soundproofing. Soundproofing is kind of a prerequisite for home privacy. If people can hear you doing something they might just as well see you doing it, especially if one of the many town gossips hear you. It also helps if most homes had multiple bedrooms, much less multiple rooms, which from what I read most colonial homes did not. Actually, from what I have read you were lucky if you had a separate bed. Good luck with privacy when everyone in the family shares the same bed!
Welcome to the Internet.
1) Accusing me of being an XBox fanboy (which apparently invalidates your opinions). They also often said that hackers must also be Microsoft fanboys, as Microsoft never gets hacked and they're "just as evil" as Sony.
2) Accusing me of being a troll ("obvious troll is obvious" was said at least once without a trace of irony)
As much as I would like to think otherwise, in my experience 90% of people who comment on video game forums are fanboys that will vehemently defend their platform of choice or are fanboy trolls baiting said fanboys. Make a comment contrary to the opinion that Sony is a benevolent gaming god that only brings joy and smiles to the world and you will be labeled an Xbox fanboy and told to GTFO. Attack Nintendo and you're a Sony fanboy. Attack Microsoft and you are an Apple fanboy, etc.
Answering the question of "Why?" with "because Sony is evil and deserves it" it's not hard to understand why you were labeled a troll and a fanboy.
3) Saying that the only people being hurt are Sony's customers, not Sony themselves (somehow not realizing the implications - if customers keep getting attacked, they aren't likely to continue being customers)
Here is the thing, who do you think is being hurt more, some poor schmuck who wanted a few games and a blu-ray player having their information posted online or some large multinational multi-billion dollar conglomerate that could lose their entire video game division tomorrow and still be raking in billions from other avenues of sale.
4) Saying that nobody ever used Linux on the PS3 and that Sony was 100% justified in removing it
Yes it was a shitty thing to do, but if you really think that that was a major draw for the system then you are sadly mistaken. If you really bought a PS3 to run Linux on, there are many better and probably cheaper devices that can run Linux. Many of them come with Linux preinstalled and some of them can even connect to an HDTV as well. However, if it is that much of a concern there are other options available such as hacking the device or not upgrading the firmware. There are consequences to those routes, but it can be done.
And in one memorable case, bringing up Hitler, trying to minimize Sony's "evilness" by comparing it to that.
Again, Welcome to the Internet!
So no, none of "the general public" consider anything Sony does to be evil. They could probably kill a few people and people would care more about whether they can play their Final Fantasy XIII-2 DLC or not.
First, the Kotaku forums are not indicative of "the general public," they are indicative of the endless wars between fanboys and random gaming hobbyists who like wasting time on Kotaku. However, when one has invested hundreds if not thousands of dollars in games and hardware, especially nontransferable goods like DLC and downloaded games, not many people can justify throwing it all away because a company is evil. Maybe this will keep some people from buying the next console but if you think that people are just going to abandon their investments en mass on principle then you are not living in reality.
He can't be a hipster, he was buying a TV. Hipsters would never reduce themselves to owning a TV.
No weapon kills people, people do. That's why no one should deny me my constitutional right to buy a tank and build a nuke.
Yes, Why can't someone protect my right to bear doomsday weapons! It is getting so hard for us mad scientists to get our hands on Doomsday weapons, much less the mad grad students. That is why I don't go anywhere without my mutated anthrax, for "duck hunting."
The problem is that is isn't a lame idea. The general problems came from mismanagement and that the idea didn't scale well, essentially becoming too popular for its own good. The idea of having a (relatively) small community posting links to news and random awesome stuff they find on the internet and having the community vote up what they like is a great idea. Once the community reaches a certain size, however things start to gravitate toward lowest common denominator crap (lolrandom bullshit and the latest ow-my-balls videos) and sponsored content / astroturfing. Back in the day where Digg was only hundreds of users instead of hundreds of thousands and Kevin and Alex highlighted the best stuff on Diggnation, it was an awesome service. I grew tired of it after a while and haven't been on in years.
Personally, I feel the same way about Facebook. When it was only for college students, it was a great way to talk to your friends. Then after it went public (open to everyone, not IPO) it just become overrun with herp-derp and became nothing but a web-based popularity contest. Between the horribly low signal-to-noise ratio and the flagrant privacy issues, I couldn't leave fast enough.
HA! HA! You're posting Fark links on Slashdot. Your dog wants steak. The Sun is there.
\ Aisle seat please.
\\ Its a street light!
\\\ Summon Bevots!
\\\\ Slashdot slashies.
I can't think of any more classic Fark memes. This comment is useless without pics.
But does it make sense? Yes, they oppose the education of women. Which would be smarter for them to do, poison the schools and not only keep quiet but flat out deny it or to poison the schools and say "We oppose the education of women and not only did we poison this school, but we will continue at random until every last school closes?"
My point was that terrorists are not lone nuts wreaking havoc, but are whackjobs wreaking havoc to further their agenda. If they did it and are keeping quiet then you are giving them too much credit because that is really stupid.
To play devil's advocate, what reason do they have to deny it if they did it? The Taliban is a fundamentalist party that supports acts of terrorism. The difference between a terrorist and psychopath is that a terrorist has a message. If a terrorist group were to lie about culpability it would probably be to take credit for acts they didn't commit. In fact, for pretty much any disaster or accident, there is almost always a group willing to take responsibility whether they did it or not.
The Taliban is a malevolent organization, but they are not comic book villains plotting nefarious acts for evil's sake.
He never promised universal healthcare--he promised universal insurance with an individual mandate, which is exactly what we got.
The public option was always "on the table" as part of his campaign platform.
The wars are over, dumbass--nearly all the troops are home. Read a newspaper sometime.
We are out of Afganistan, The Philippines, Pakistan, and Yehmen? We're no longer using the Navy to fight Somali Pirates? Wow, I wish someone would have told me, but the media doesn't covers wars. [/sarcasm]
The "War on Terror" is never over.
The economy has recovered substantially from the nose dive it was in when he took over. Remember >10% unemployment?
Shitty economy is still shitty.
Now, if you look at the spirit of my original post, I was saying that his poll numbers aren't because of closet racism but probably because he ran as a Democrat and turned out to be only moderately left of Bush and just slightly more effective. I keep hearing about this socialist in office and wonder who the hell they're talking about. A socialist president would probably be a refreshing change after the last 12 years.
Maybe it is because he promised universal healthcare, closing Gitmo, ending the wars, improving the economy, and et cetera and instead passed a law requiring everyone to buy-in-to expensive private insurance, Gitmo is still open, the troops are still not home, the economy is still shit, and the bankers who got us into it are not only free, but given free government money!
Now, there is plenty of blame to give to both parties as there used to be a thing called bipartisan co-oporation. There was a point in time when both parties tried to do what they felt was in the best interest of the country, instead of intentionally wrecking the country so they can get the next election. Racism is still alive and kicking, but don't blame Obama's low popularity purely on racism.